When Grief Keeps You Away

Sunday, April 23rd, 2017 – Second Sunday in Easter

Why was Thomas not with the others on that first night, was he not with the 12 because he was lost in the void of grief. I remember people who couldn’t stand to be in the sanctuary because it was too painful. They couldn’t shake the image of the casket of their loved one. Some who couldn’t stand to hear the pipe organ or a certain hymn because it was played or sung at a funeral. Grief if hard. It is hard to pick up your life and put one foot in front of another. In spite of his grief, Thomas returned to that upper room, to the fellowship. This is what it means to have life in Christ. It begins with a sense of Peace and ends with the charge that Jesus gave; “Just as the Father sent Me, so I send you into the world.” We are the body of Christ, doing the work of Christ, for the glory of God.